Wilson Leadership Change | Novig Leaves New Jersey after Raising Funding

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Amer Sports announces Wilson leadership change It’s the end of an era at One Prudential Plaza. Joe Dudy had been at the helm of Wilson for significant milestones, such as bringing Wilson back as the official NBA game ball in 2020 and launching Wilson Sportswear in 2022. Dudy also spearheaded the first-ever brick-and-mortar location right in Gold Coast, as part of a greater effort to pivot Wilson into more Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) opportunities. Dudy leaves Wilson’s headquarters overlooking Millennium Park after 30 years. He began in the finance department and climbed his way into various leadership positions that eventually led him to the top of the company. Wilson’s next CEO will inherit its strong sales growth in Q2, driven by the racquet sports sector, but will have the challenge of continuing the momentum of Wilson’s DTC push, driven by Dudy. For more info on who the interim President and CEO of Wilson will be, check out this press release.

Vivid Seats Named Official Fan Experience Partner of the Chicago Bears It’s about time this partnership happened. Vivid Seats already has partnerships in place with the Chargers, Colts, Browns, and 49ers. For Vivid Seats, based in the historic Marshall Field building, not having a partnership already in place with the Bears is a bit shocking. One of the main highlights of the partnership is the creation of the Vivid Seats Skydeck. Fans will get treated to panoramic views of Chicago’s skylines along with private concessions and a dedicated tailgating space to get into the mood before kickoff. Stock Titan describes the significance of this hometown partnership for Vivid Seats as one with tremendous upside and virtually no downside. It will allow Vivid Seats to establish a powerful local presence that could separate them from industry giants such as SeatGeek and StubHub.

VOW — AI-powered operating system that streamlines live event planning — has closed the first tranche of its seed round, led by KB Partners KB Partners knows a winner when it sees one. Highland Park’s top venture capital firm has invested in dozens of early-stage startups in its 30 years in existence. For Managing Partner Keith Bank to call VOW the first platform that truly unifies live event operations in a scalable way says something, considering how many pitches he’s likely heard that promise this. VOW provides event planning professionals with one platform to achieve everything they need in the traditionally fragmented landscape of event planning. Unique to VOW’s offering is one app that both event planning professionals and guests can use. CEO of VOW Jennifer Brisman is a 20-year veteran of the event planning industry. Brisman used her invaluable insights to develop an AI-powered operating system that takes the stress out of event planning. Here are some of the big names VOW is already partnering with to streamline their event planning process.

Northwestern reaches settlement with football coach who was fired amid hazing scandal Pat Fitzgerald scored a major win in his battle against Northwestern. The former head football coach sued the school to contest his termination, claiming it was a wrongful termination. He alleged that the school automatically assumed he was guilty of negligence when the abhorrent hazing allegations came out from former football players. After extensive fact-finding and discovery were done, both sides concluded the same thing: Coach Fitzgerald did not know about hazing, nor did he direct it. He’ll get a nice check from the school of an undisclosed sum, but the damage to his reputation may never recover. Think of how much the Penn State Sandusky scandal tarnished Joe Paterno’s reputation, even though he tried to report the wrongdoing of Sandusky. We live in a first-impression world. Once people hear one side of a story, it takes an incredible amount of effort to change that impression. At least both Northwestern and Pat Fitzgerald can officially move on from this ugly chapter instead of it looming in the background like a shadow. AP News reports the reaction from both sides after the announcement of the settlement.

Sports Leagues on Hot Seat as Congress Eyes Blackout Rules The Big Four of U.S. pro sports — NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL — have enjoyed relative immunity for decades since the passage of the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) of 1961. Under this act, sports leagues can negotiate and sell TV rights directly to TV networks on behalf of the teams in their leagues instead of having those individual teams negotiate separately. In short, it allows them to blackout local games to prevent dilution of the value of tickets purchased for those games. Back then, everyone only had about eight channels, mostly in black and white. And leagues like the NFL and NBA were more like mom and pop operations compared to the global behemoths they’ve grown into. The NFL’s Sunday Ticket antitrust lawsuit from last year — restaurants, bars, and over 2.4 million residential subscribers claimed the NFL violated antitrust law by charging higher prices to stream games for out-of-town fans — seems to have tipped off Congress to dive deeper into the antiquated SBA of 1961. It’s a law that has unintentionally given sports leagues unimaginable power in driving local blackouts. Congress sent a letter to the heads of the Big Four, giving them a deadline of today to respond. Sportico details who in Congress is pushing the investigation and the implications of repealing the SBA of 1961.

NFL franchise valuations have risen 20% in the last year When George Halas bought the NFL’s first franchise — the Decatur Staleys aka Chicago Bears — for $100 in 1921, there’s no way he or anyone else could’ve predicted the meteoric rise in valuations that would happen much later. Led by the Dallas Cowboys with their $12.8 billion valuation, two other teams are also worth at least 11 figures. The Cowboys have been the most valuable franchise in the world for years now and have grown by 24% since last year. Despite their annual disappointment, Cowboys fans boost the team’s value through their delusion and apparel purchases. Seven of the top 10 most valuable NFL franchises experienced growth in excess of 20% from 2024. The growth continues to elevate the NFL head and shoulders above other U.S. sports leagues like the NBA and MLB. NFL franchises are worth, on average, $3-$5 billion more than the average NBA or MLB franchise. Soccer may be the most popular sport worldwide, but nothing touches the valuations of NFL franchises. Sherwood News breaks down the top 10 most valuable NFL franchises, including how much their valuations have risen in one year.

L.A. Olympics to sell naming rights to handful of venues LA is used to setting new precedents when it comes to the Olympics. When it last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1984, it introduced the heavy use of corporate sponsorships and licensing that characterizes the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) approach to maximizing profit today. In another break from tradition, organizers for the 2028 LA Olympics will sell the naming rights to 19 venues to help boost revenue. It goes completely against the typical Olympic model of keeping brand names off of stadiums and arenas. The move comes as a necessity for LA. Unlike most host cities, the LA Olympic push is self-funded and not government-funded. It adds more strain to an already stressful process. The IOC’s top sponsors will get first dibs in the naming rights push, and if no deals are agreed to before the Olympics, then the stadiums will retain their original name. The Olympics have been viewed as one of the most prestigious events a city can host, but it comes as a double-edged sword because of the incredible costs it takes to host one. Find out more about how LA hopes to offset the costs through selling naming rights and set another new standard for future Olympics.

Novig Quietly Flees NJ Under Legal Pressure After $18M Raise It’s rare to have a startup pat itself on the back after announcing a multi-million dollar Series A Round and then days later quietly back out of one of its biggest markets. Novig brands itself the number one sports prediction market on its website, relying on a sweepstakes format and dual currency system. To summarize, Novig enables users to purchase tokens with no real-world value, exchange them for “Novig cash” to place bets on sports events, and earn real cash for winning those bets. Novig doesn’t charge users a trading fee, a distinction it hopes can help it avoid regulation aimed at sports betting and prediction markets. States like New Jersey, Montana, and Connecticut have all passed laws banning sweepstakes-style games like Novig in efforts to protect consumers from unregulated gambling and prevent Novig from avoiding taxation. Novig has the backing of the Social and Promotional Games Association against legislation banning sweepstakes platforms. Still, more states, like California, seem to be anxious to pass their own laws banning the platforms. For now, Novig is available in 35 states, but if the trend of legislation against sweepstakes continues, they will have to adopt a new strategy rather than just quietly exit states that ban their operations. Sportico discusses the full implications for companies like Novig with further crackdowns on sweepstakes.